DAY 5 GUANGZHOU-DANXIASHAN

It is the last day of our visit to Shaoguan. We took our breakfast at the resort. There is no dimsum and we were served with the normal Chinese breakfast. After breakfast we check out from the resort and departed for the last tourist attraction - NANHUA TEMPLE.

The temple faces Danxiashan and the Abbot of the temple is the 6th generation of China's Buddhism. His remains are in this temple. The guide led us through the temple explaining the history of each prayer halls till we reached the back of the temple. There is a mountain spring for us to wash our hands and face (and don't wipe your hands instead put your hand in your pocket together with water - pocket your luck home!) before going back to the prayer halls.

Entrance of the Nanhua Temple

The worshippers here discourage from burning/lighting the incense/joss sticks in the prayer hall itself. You say your prayers with the unlit incense and then leave them outside on the table and the monk will collect them and burn them later. This help to preserve the image of the deities in the hall and besides this is not irritate the eyes of the worshippers. No photography is allowed inside the temple halls.

There is a big Bodi tree in the center of the temple. Buddha was enlightened under the bodi tree. It is believed that going around the tree in a anticlockwise direction will bring blessing and enlightenment and peace.

So going around 3 times - praying for peace and harmony.

Somewhere in this big temple, we find a small altar for a Chan family. The story is that the whole land belonged to a rich man whose surname is Chan. The Abbot has perceived that this place is ideal for a temple and had on numerous occasions requested Chan to sell the land to him. Chan was a very arrogant man and told the Abbot that he will not sell but can give the land to him if the Abbot can win him in contest. The Abbot won the contest and Chan had to honour his pledge. So he asked the Abbot how many acres he wanted. The Abbot told him that as many acres as his shawl can cover the land. So Chan looked at the Abbot's shawl and thought how big can the shawl be? He agreed. The Abbot tossed his shawl up towards the heaven and the shadow of the shawl covered the land where the temple now stand. However there is the hole where the hook held the shawl in place and that hole is this place not covered with the shadow of the shawl. So this tiny altar belonging to the Chan family remains in the temple to this day.

Moral of the story: Is it what you sow is what you reap?

The golden bowl outside the temple. If you toss in a dollar it will multiply many many times. It is not as easy as you think- see the hole on top of the bowl. Well, it all depends on God's will.

There are only 4 of these tress in the temple grounds. It does not look big and yet it takes 5 grown men to circle it.

Any leftover incense will be burn in the urn outside the emple before you leave.

Pots of Pickled Bittergourd and Snakes in Wine for sale at the restaurant.

Pork belly braised with Mei Choy (left) and Steamed fresh taufoo (right)

Fried Julienned Potatoes in Chilli oil. A bit spicy and crunchy. Another way to cook them is with Rice Vinegar.

Green chillies fried with fish paste. Very tasty.

After lunch, we visited the Yao Minority community in the province. This is the usual dances and stunts by them. There is a young man burning his arms with a lighted torch and another one standing on two sharp blades. You are invited to participate in their dances and a mock wedding was staged with their girls.

The slippers dance- its a matter of co-ordination

We had a good laugh when my brother-in-law's trousers kept dropping!

Its time to say goodbye and returned by bullet train back to Guangzhou.

The arrival hall of the Bullet Train Station- very huge and almost every 15 minutes there is a train coming in from somewhere.

We were met with heavy rainfall - the typhoon coming to town and after office hours jam.

We met up with our cousins again for dinner at a famous Resturant in Li Chee Wan.

The courtyard of the restaurant and there are actual lychee trees growing here.

The view outside our dining room. Food was good here. Some of the items:

Braised Char Siew and Taufoo

Thicken Taufoo Soup(kang)

Steamed grass carp with preserved black olives. The chinese olives is very salty and is an acquired taste.

The desserts finally made their appearance. The pastry chef is a renowned old master. You can see his exquisite workmanship.

Tiny pretty birdies- filled with custard pudding.

Fluffy white rabbits - its prawn dumplings

Tiny golden piggies - with curry meat fillings.

The happy trio- waiting to be eaten.

We were rushing through our dinner as we had to join the Pearl River Cruise at 8.30 pm. Thank God the rain had stopped. This is a popular night cruise along the Pearl River which runs through Guangzhou. One of the famous river in China besides the Yellow River. The Mayor of Guangzhou had done a very job to clear up the river and beautify the surrounding areas for the Asian Games. My camera would not do justice to the beautiful night scenes but my cousins were busy taking photographs for us and with us. But I know I can only see those photographs the next time I visit Guangzhou. It was a memorable and relaxing cruise with the cool breeze after the rain.